11.04.2007

Spooky Affair: Little, Brown's Spring 2008 Preview

So last Wednesday was a big day: Halloween; the NYT Dining Section; Little, Brown’s preview. I spent the whole day dressed up as an anti-social butterfly (thanks, Allison!), even though my butterfly wings broke at the preview.

So let’s talk about the preview. I started writing my post and it just got ridiculously long. Seriously. I couldn’t shut up and be more succinct, apparently. So I’m going to try something new – I’m spreading out my posts. Each day this week, I’ll cover a new editor’s presentation, and today I’ll just do a general description. So here’s the line-up for the week:

So check out this blog on each of those days to find out about the new books these editors are publishing – there are some rather exciting prospects coming up.

I think I can say this without burning any bridges, but Little, Brown is my favorite preview to go to, which is not to say that I don’t enjoy the others, of course. But Victoria is so delightfully feisty, not to mention that I stood at the window of the Luce Room, looking at Radio City Music Hall, which was already decorated in its holiday regalia.

As I said, I was dressed up as an anti-social butterfly, and there were a few others dressed up as well. Betsy Bird had on some fun orange-and-black striped tights, which were perfect for the holidays, though I remember years ago the “grunge” crowd wore stuff like that on a daily basis. Thank goodness the “Seattle sound” is over. Amy Sears wore a Red Sox jersey but, no worries, her life was not in danger – there seemed to be quite a few Red Sox fans in the group. Carlie Webber was dressed up as Avril Lavigne, which was pretty fun, though she did complain that most people didn’t know who she was supposed to be…and she got some weird looks on the train.

At Little, Brown the editors circulate around the room, while you get to sit in one place, sipping coffee and munching some of the best snackies provided in the publishing biz. To celebrate the holiday, at the break, enormous Halloween cupcakes were brought out, in both vanilla and chocolate. Alas, I didn’t have one – it’s impossible to eat cupcakes gracefully and I didn’t want to make a total ass of myself, as I’m prone to do.

Each editor only presents about 3 books so you don’t ever feel rushed – there’s actually time for discussion! How novel! Though I suppose that also invites criticism from the peanut gallery, but the editors always seem to handle it graciously and take what is said to heart. As a result of this method of presentation, you definitely get a personal relationship going with each editor – more so than other houses, I think.